Shoaib Malik Advises Babar Azam to Leave Pakistan Cricket Team Captaincy and Focus on His Batting Only
There has been a lot of talk about Babar Azam's future as the captain of Pakistan's cricket team and former skipper Shoaib Malik has advised the star cricketer to relinquish the leadership and focus on his batting. "Babar Azam is a great batter, but we do injustice by putting his leadership qualities and batting ability on the same scale," he said.
Babar Azam’s captaincy has been a point of discussion for quite some time now and in a recent development in that context, Shoaib Akhtar has advised the Pakistan captain to relinquish the leadership role of the national team. There have been a lot of opinions on whether Babar Azam should continue as the captain of the Pakistan team and Malik, while speaking on the Geo News programme ‘Score’, said, "Babar Azam is a great batter, but we do injustice by putting his leadership qualities and batting ability on the same scale. This will help (stepping down from the role) Babar Azam make more records on an international level as the pressure on him will be limited to his batting.” On Which Channel Pakistan vs New Zealand 2023 Series Will Be Telecast Live? How to Watch PAK vs NZ Live Streaming Online? Check Viewing Options of Pakistan Cricket Team Upcoming Matches.
Shoaib Malik Advises Babar Azam to Leave Pakistan Cricket Team Captaincy
Babar Azam, along with other senior players, were rested for Pakistan’s T20I series against Afghanistan. Shadab Khan was handed charge of the team, which included plenty of young players and it gave rise to speculation if the PCB were looking at other captaincy figures for the shortest format of the game. However, PCB chairman Najam Sethi stated that Azam would continue to remain in charge and also stated that the selectors and Mickey Arthur would take a call on the future of the star batter’s captaincy career. “For now, we have retained Babar as a captain because he is our main player. His captaincy is often discussed in media; we have nothing to do with it," said the PCB.
Pakistan’s ongoing T20I series against New Zealand saw Babar Azam return to the captaincy of the team. The Green Shirts have a 2-1 lead at the moment in the five-match series.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2023 05:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).